Raid yields about $10 million worth of pot plants

The Associated Press

Thousands of marijuana plants with a street value estimated to be worth around $10 million have been uncovered and a suspect is in custody after a raid of a massive pot farm near a Northern California regional park, authorities said Friday.

A drug eradication team of Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz County deputies and state game wardens found 3,400 marijuana plants growing in a remote area near Madonna County Park, outside of Gilroy, Thursday afternoon, said Santa Clara County sheriff's Sgt. Jose Cardoza.

During the raid a suspect, identified as Alvaro Sanchez, 24, was shot by a member of the law enforcement team when he and another man, both armed with rifles, returned to the marijuana garden while the drug team was at the grow, Cardoza told the Monterey Herald (
http://bit.ly/OJIOL1
).

"They did pose a threat to the deputies and they did brandish their weapons," Cardoza told the newspaper.

Sanchez fled into the nearby forest, but was captured later Thursday by a SWAT team after he called emergency dispatchers to report he had been shot.

Sanchez has been arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and other charges. He was booked into Santa Clara County jail Friday evening after being released from a hospital, Cardoza said.

A second suspect was also spotted at the marijuana garden, but has escaped capture.

The area where the marijuana garden was discovered is outside of Madonna County Park, a 3,688-acre oasis about 10 miles west of Gilroy, or about 80 miles south of San Francisco.